Affairs in the Transvaal begin to look serious. The Volksraad
has rejected the offer of confederation, and according to Sir T. Shepstone, quoted by Mr. Lowther on Monday, the Republic is in a state of complete anarchy. It is believed that if the nego- tiations fail, the Zulu King, Cetawayo, will make a rush on the Transvaal with 40,000 men, most of them armed with rifles, and perhaps exterminate the Boer population. This might lead to a war of races in South Africa, and would, at all events, greatly endanger the Englishmen at the diamond-fields and in-the towns of the Transvaal ; and Sir T. Shepstone, as Mr. Lowther intimates, has recommended that British troops should be called in to maintain order. That would be annexation thinly disguised, but it is-difficult to see how it can be prevented. It is impossible to allow 3,000 or 4,000 Dutch farmers to arouse a war of races in South Africa because they do not like to live under strict law. Their own President and a majority of the population are in favour of British protection.
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